3 Years and Counting.

Today marks 3 years since I gained a little shadow named Squirt.

His favorite things are snuggles, naps, and piles of laundry or pillows. He goes absolutely nuts for chicken jerky. He's even been known to chew through bags to get to it. Oh, he's also our little Houdini. He helped us find every loose or open space in our fence before Tim put our wooden fence up, and he even let us knew he lost weight by squeezing through the gate the backyard to go for a nice walk over to the neighbor's.

Flash back to 3 years ago. During my first year of teaching I realized I was letting myself become consumed by teaching.  I was becoming restless and needed more in my life than my job. I needed a life. The apartments I lived in also had some interesting tenants, and I wanted to feel totally safe. I liked taking walks to relax, but they got lonely. Yup, I needed a dog. 

When I first saw Squirt's info online, I admit I thought he was cute but bypassed him because he was tiny. I wanted a medium dog so I could feel safe but could also pick it up should the need ever arise (like if the dog got sick or hurt). Something kept bringing me back to his picture, though, so I set up a visit at the shelter. 

Squirt had been in the shelter for just over a year.  He was found wandering around, and they think someone may have kept him as a breeding dog for a while. I just don't think he was taken care of well wherever he once was because of how anxious he is now. He has major separation anxiety and is very easily spooked. Loud or strange noises send him running, and he freaks out during storms. He also gets scared when he doesn't know where I am in the house. He'll pace around until he finds me. Yup, he's a ferocious guard dog. If you're not careful while you're at our house, he'll lick you to pieces or take over your lap so you are forced to snuggle him.

Today is also Squirt's birthday! Well, I say it's his birthday. They think he was 6 when they found him, so he was 7 when I got him. That's technically a senior for a small dog. I decided his adoption day was his birthday just so I could remember it. Today he's 10! He's celebrating by taking a nap at my feet as I type, and he's gotten a few chunks of chicken jerky without having to work for them. 

This quirky little guy was the start of my own little family. It was because of him that Danny came bounding over one afternoon to sniff us, and it was his barking all day that led to Tim dog-sitting and us getting to dog-sit Danny. It was that trade-off that sparked a much-needed friendship between two lonely people. That new friend became the love of my life, the man I am now blessed to call my husband. Our little family of us plus two furry boys has expanded to include an unstoppable force of a puppy.

And it all started with my little old man dog. 

Happy birthday, Little Bit. I love you very, very much. 

Music Monday: Christmas-ing Continues

Today's song isn't anything particularly awe-inspiring or beautiful, and it may not even make you giggle -- it's just one that I really like. I find that whenever it's on, I'm compelled to turn it up. 

The Grinch used to be a running family joke. I don't even remember how it got started, exactly, but for a while this song was my dad's ringtone when he called me. I kept it on year-round, though, not just during the Christmas season.

Maybe this is appealing today because this song is comfortable and familiar, and sometimes you just need that. It's a busy time with the Christmas Program Wednesday, program practice tonight until 5:30, and some crummy weather that made the drive longer. I don't want to grumble because I love my job, but I'm one tired teacher. I don't like being a grump, though, so I needed a song tonight that'd be a bit of comfortable in the midst of crazy. 

Just for kicks and giggles, here you go.

Christmas Classics

The first Christmas that I was in college was probably one of my all-time favorite Christmas seasons. We had this little "family" of us that hung out a lot in college, and a lot of them were huge Christmas fans like me. It was awesome getting to do so many Christmas-y things like baking cookies, watching as many Christmas movies as we could, and drinking loads of hot chocolate.

And then there was the rocking out to Christmas music that we did together. We even sang in the Hot Chocolate Choir together at Concordia's annual tree lighting ceremony.

My friend Aaron made us Christmas mix CDs the following year for Christmas, and it still is one of my favorite things to listen to this time of year because it takes me back to that group of friends and that time in our lives...not just college, but those nights and days around Christmas where we took time to just have fun and enjoy being together. There was so much joy and love in that group of friends when we were together.

Here's just one of the songs on the CD...yup, feels like Christmas now. :)

It's Here!!!

Christmas season is FINALLY here again! I have waited for 11 whole months for this.

I know, technically it started Friday. Don't take my lack of posting about my excitement as a dimmed enthusiasm this year for this Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Trust me, I was super-excited. I got giddy hearing the Christmas tunes this weekend while we were out and about. I was ecstatic when Tim consented to listening to Christmas music for "just a half an hour"...which turned into a good chunk of the 9 hour car ride home...and I have had Christmas songs cycling through my head like crazy -- especially one of the songs my kiddos are singing for our Christmas program this year. It's called "Let's Take a Peek in the Manger" and it's super adorable. 

And this morning I got pumped up for the day by listening to Josh Groban's Noel on the way to school. It's only one of the best Christmas CDs ever. And I listened to another Christmas CD on the way home from school, too. Um, I can't even think of when the last time I was glad to have this commute, but Christmas music sure did the trick today. 

See? Amazing. You're welcome. 

I feel a rush of excitement and joy...and I really feel like there is a lot to squeeze into this month to make the most of this short window of Christmas amazingness. I love getting to see the kids get excited to share the Christmas story in our program. This year we have an Advent calendar in our classroom that we are doing everyday, and the kids are so excited and so am I!! I'm itching to get our tree and put up our decorations. I need to figure out what kind of new creation I want to try making this year to go with my annual sugar cookies and fudge. I want to bask in the glow of Christmas lights and see our 5 stockings hanging up. I can't wait to snuggle on the couch in my jammies with peppermint hot chocolate in my Santa mug with some Rudolph and Elf and all of those wonderful Christmas classics.

Did I mention how much I love the Christmas season?!?!?

Things You Should Know About School Supplies

You've surely heard of the book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. My elementary school had a poster between the kindergarten rooms with a bunch of his pearls of wisdom. It may still be hanging there, actually. It looked like this:

I remember dawdling to read it now and then because even at a young age I was good at procrastinating and never being where I was supposed to on time.

Well, allow me to share a few pearls of my own gleaned from actual life experiences.

New colorful pens may not actually help you gain inspiration, but they sure make the doodling while you think a lot more fun. 

Colorful pens do make writing in a lesson plan book or other seemingly tedious tasks a little more fun, too. 

It will always be hard to use the tip on a brand new crayon. Nobody wants to use the crayons with the peeled paper, but ruining that perfect point is the first step to a crayon nubbin. And yet the exhilaration of seeing a box of brand new crayons is too much to overcome. Such a conundrum. 

Markers are preferable to crayons for roughly 90% of all kindergarten illustrations. 
[100% if one of the options is Mr. Sketch Smelly Markers.]

Post-Its are great for writing down To Do lists but also at reminding you to try to limit what you put on there...and who doesn't want to believe they can get everything done each and every day? 

And more recently...

Crayons can come off of clothing even after a long, hot ride in the dryer together -- except orange. If you left an orange crayon in your pocket, yeah, time for a new pair of pants because not even 4 washes with Dawn, OxyClean, and white vinegar will do the trick. But hey, on the upside, if it was yellow you can hold on to a glimmer of hope. 

Laminators that require sticky plastic and a hand crank to use may not do as nice of a job as a laminator with heat and power, but a scarf definitely will retain more integrity if it is caught in the former. 

On a potentially unrelated note, two of my students' finished Thanksgiving place mats went home today with a little extra sparkle.

Can you spot my donation to her artwork?

And this is why we can't have nice kindergarten things. Oh, no, it's not the kids that ruin them...it's the teacher.

Womp womp. 

A Beautiful Day

Today we had Grandparents Day and Veterans Day at school. We celebrate grandparents in the morning with a special chapel and lunch, and then we end the day with a program for the veterans and fellowship.

I'm finding that the more stressful and exhausting the prep for something is, the more awesome it feels when it's finished and everyone is leaving with a smile on. But seriously, it's a rush of overwhelming joy when you know that people have sincerely enjoyed something together and that your kiddos have had a part in bringing joy to people.

And it's a rush of joy to see the contentment and excitement on those little faces when they know they have made other people feel so special. I think one of the most important things I want my little dears to know is at least an inkling of how much power they have to impact someone else.

Today I was overwhelmed at how beautiful it is when two worlds collide. Here were all of these young and old people spending the day together, and watching them laugh and beam with pride all day long was amazing. There were even a few brave souls who played with their grandchildren outside at recess.

I know the pride of seeing my students be absolutely awesome at something and feel that pride bring a sense of happiness that radiates through my entire being and make me fight back tears. Today I realized that feeling must be so much stronger as a parent, but it must be magnified when you are a grandparent watching your grandchild.

And oh, these kids adore their grandparents. I love seeing them light up when they are with their grandparents. I get it though. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my parents, and I know my kids love their parents, too, but there really is no substitute for grandparents. It's a whole different kind of comfort and happiness spending time with grandparents you adore. I can't pinpoint why, but I can sure appreciate it.

Family is definitely a gift from God and a reflection of the unending love He has for us...and that is the most beautiful and remarkable thing. Today I was blessed to get a true glimpse of the beauty of that love...and it has left my heart overflowing.

A Little Token of Farmer Appreciation

It's Music Monday! Hooray!

[Update: Oops, guess I missed the part about this month being about the best songs to drive around to...guess I know what I'll be thinking about this week while I'm driving to and from work! :)]

So I hail loudly and proudly from the Dairy land that is Wisconsin, and I have seen my share of cows, but I haven't seen them dance as well as the ones you are going to see here today, folks.

Before you can indulge in watching some boppin' bovines, my friends, I have to be honest with you. I thought that I learned a lot about farming while I was in college with some kids that came from farms around Nebraska, but I've really learned so much more since I started teaching at a school literally in the middle of cornfields a year and a half ago.

The more that I've gotten to know about what these men do day in and day out and how it impacts their families leaves me in awe. They give so much of themselves and give up so much time to be in the fields or fixing equipment or even just driving materials or the crops they've harvested...and so often they are overlooked and under-thanked. And that's not even touching the impact they have on the community or the economy.

To the men who go through the seasons trusting God will provide the right conditions for planting, growing, and harvesting...

who give up watching sporting events, eating dinner, and reading bedtime stories with their kids to be in the fields...

who have the patience beyond measure to fix a broken machine again to ensure the crops get planted or harvested...

who keep a watchful eye on the weather and the time to provide the crops with the right amount of water to flourish...

who pray the thunderstorms will come without damaging wind and hail...

who stay up late and wake up early to take on the tasks at hand...

and so often do what they do with honesty yet without complaint...

Thank you for all that you do and sacrifice to provide for me and so many others who barely have a clue what it's like to do what you do each and every day. You are awesome beyond comparison. I respect you thoroughly and admire your dedication.

These brothers in Kansas put out videos about farming that are simultaneously hilarious and educational. It may not be your first pick for what you'd watch on YouTube, but I promise you won't regret it. And if you're anything like me you'll end up wanting to watch their many other music videos, too.

But seriously, guys, look for the dancing cows. :)